It makes sense right. It doesn’t matter how much you strive for something if you don’t want it in the end and if you don’t now when to reach it you’ll be fighting aimlessly and if it’s not written down or documented and reviewed life’s “emergencies” will always get in the way of you working towards your goals.

With that said there are ways to make goal setting more effective

Classify you goals

The first key is to divide you goals into the different areas of your life they belong to. This will help you to create a balance in your life and never neglecting something that is important to you.

Feel free to create your own categories but it can be helpful to use these as guidelines

Financial

Spiritual

Physical

Personal Development

Relationship

Clarify your goals and make them measurable

A goal is always more effective if the end result is measurable but a goal will still help you even if it isn’t. A good rule of thumb can be to make it as clear and measurable as possible

Insecurity is one of the most common reasons not to fulfill a goal and therefore making a goal crystal clear will always help you along the way and at the same time you’ll be able to tell if you’ve actually reached it in the end.

Goals in some of the areas can be hard to clarify and measurable but the most important thing is to go from vague to clear.

A vague not so effective goal might be:

I want to play my music at a well known club in America by the end of this year.

The same goal but with more clarity would look like this (fill in the blanks):

The (specific date) I’ll be playing (a specific sond) at (a specific place).

Set different time frames and milestones to your goals

To eliminate procrastination an effective way is to break down you goals in short term goals or milestones. It’s usually easier to start with the long term goals and break it down into what you need to get done to get there since you might otherwise get lost in daily goals that won’t necessarily take you closer your dreams.

Setting your goals and adding timelines to them can be hard but do an estimate and then adjust as you go along and get a good feeling of how long it will take you to get where you want to go.

Daily goals

This is what most people will call a todo list. Always make this list the day before the actual day at the latest since if you do it the same day there is a big chance that something else seemingly important has crept it’s way into you day through email or in person meetings etc.

Weekly goals

The weekly goals main function is to make sure that the daily task mount up into something of value in the long haul.

Monthly goals

Your monthly goals are the first timeline that creates an overview. You can be working for a week without feeling you get closer to you long term goals but if you’ve been doing it for a month it’s time to stop and reflect.

Note: It generally takes about 21 days to set a new habit so if there is something you want to do consistently, setting a goal for a month and sticking to it might do the trick.

6 months goals

Six months of working towards something is a long time.

If we’re talking personal development we’re now at the timeframe where transformations can be done. People have lost hundreds of pounds, made millions of dollars in six month so don’t be afraid to set your goals high. What will your life look like if you’ve completed your monthly goals every month up until now?

Long term goals

Here we’re looking at your dreams. Where will you be if you accomplish your 6 months goals every six months?

Long term goals are important to keep the motivation alive. During every day you might have to do tasks that are less exciting and to get them done without procrastination it’s important to have a really exciting and alluring long term goal.

End words

Most people overestimate what they can accomplish in year but underestimate what they can achieve in a decade.

Most people are seeking quick fix solutions to their problems and want their results now and often set high goals for the first year. When they after a year haven’t reached their goals they give up and therefore miss out on the success and accomplishment that comes from persistance action over a longer period of time.

Set your goals, think long term and review them daily. It’s as simple as that!